Daily Herald, December 29, 2008

In your December 20 editorial “Court must protect malpractice limits” you urge the Illinois Supreme Court to maintain limits damages on medical malpractice cases. You claim that without protecting the limits on the pain and suffering awards will ultimately cost the people of Illinois by limiting access to good doctors and higher rates. This is just simply not the case

Limits on non-economic damages are a one-size-fits-all approach that is unfair to victims. The case before the Illinois Supreme Court is about Abigaile LeBron, a young child who suffers brain damage as the result of medical negligence. This case – like all cases in which someone has been the victim of medical negligence – is a tragedy. To the best of its ability, our legal system must provide justice for this innocent person and hold the responsible parties accountable.

The insurance industry and its brethren in the tort reform world have argued that Abigaile’s compensation for lifelong disability, pain and suffering should be arbitrarily limited, despite what a jury of average citizens may decide. The question before the Illinois Supreme Court is whether the Illinois Constitution allows Abigaile’s rights to be limited in this fashion to the benefit of insurance company profits.

Twice before our state’s highest court has decided in favor of patients and against the insurance companies that would limit these rights to protect their own profits. The court ruled that caps are unconstitutional and would arbitrarily fall exclusively on those most deserving of compensation – the severely injured.

The simple fact is that the positive climate for doctors has resulted from strong, long suppressed insurance reforms, which were included in the legislation. That law has forced malpractice insurance companies to provide greater transparency on rate-setting and payouts that has, in turn, spurred competition, motivated more companies to enter the marketplace, and lowered premiums for doctors. Important to the discussion is the additional fact that Illinois’ largest malpractice insurer has reported that payouts have remained flat for the past 13 years. That same insurance carrier admitted in legislative hearings in 2005 that capping awards would not guarantee lower premiums for doctors.

The Illinois Constitution was put in place to ensure individual rights and freedoms. While corporations and profit-hungry executives often stack the decks against individuals in the marketplace and the halls of government, the courtroom can still provide all parties with an even playing field. The Illinois Supreme Court will now decide whether that standard remains in place for patients like Abigail LeBron. You should let it do its job.

Philip Harnett Corboy Jr.
President
Illinois Trial Lawyers Association
Chicago